Queer/Quean: The Tragedy of Mariam, Whiteness, and Queer Chastity.
This article considers Elizabeth Cary's The Tragedy of Mariam: The Fair Queen of Jewry (1613) alongside Amber Jamilla Musser's theorization of masochism to read the titular character as embodying a queer chastity. Through premodern critical race studies and queer studies, this article suggests that...
| Published in: | Journal for Early Modern Cultural Studies Vol. 23; no. 1/2; pp. 82 - 106 |
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| Format: | Article |
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University of Pennsylvania Press
Winter2023
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=181894535&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 181894535 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 15310485 DBLW jtl: Journal for Early Modern Cultural Studies issn: 15310485 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Winter2023 vid: 23 iid: 1/2 pid: 4636 pub: University of Pennsylvania Press artinfo: ui: 181894535 ppf: 82 ppct: 24 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 373KB tig: atl: Queer/Quean: The Tragedy of Mariam, Whiteness, and Queer Chastity. aug: au: Raychawdhuri, Anita su: LGBTQ+ studies Personal beauty Race White women Masochism sug: subj: LGBTQ+ studies Personal beauty Race White women Masochism keyword: abject chastity gender masochism queerness race sexuality whiteness womanhood ab: This article considers Elizabeth Cary's The Tragedy of Mariam: The Fair Queen of Jewry (1613) alongside Amber Jamilla Musser's theorization of masochism to read the titular character as embodying a queer chastity. Through premodern critical race studies and queer studies, this article suggests that Mariam's adjacency to whiteness—affirmed by Petrarchan beauty standards, martyrdom narratives, and foiling of Mariam against other women—gives her ability to queer her chastity into a masochistic position that plummets her toward execution. Mariam rejects Herod's advances, which would likely save her from an execution he commanded, to uphold her own narrativization of her white value. Chastity becomes mobilized as an erotic register that, as a white woman, Mariam can pervert for her own resistance and pleasures in Herod's kingdom. Fundamentally, the abjectness of Mariam's solitary existence in the play highlights the violence of white womanhood, which creates distance and rivalry rather than solidarity. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of Journal for Early Modern Cultural Studies is the property of University of Pennsylvania Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: Journal for Early Modern Cultural Studies holder: University of Pennsylvania Press dt: @attributes: year: 2023 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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